Israel Jails Palestinian Beautician Over Facebook Post

“What are we supposed to do? Stop living?”

(This in a country where enjoying life is a slap in the oppressor’s face!)

ED Noor: Tonight I saw a side of Palestine I had not seen before; a fashion programme about young Palestinians celebrating life with passion and, oddly enough, fashion. Most were/are motivated by fashion primarily to show Palestine as a creative force in the clothing industry, obviously a serious challenge all things considered. Just as interesting as the clothing and the Palestinian creators was the awakening of the hostess to their lives as they enjoy life, very tame by our standard. Although the show was not intended to be about Israeli-Palestinian politics, the politics of the region made themselves obvious in ways the hostess could never have imagined.

This was an hour rich with imagery and interviews from daily Palestinian lives, not the usual material. My mind is still reeling from everything I learned actually, so focused am I always over the struggles and problems. It showed a side of both the West Bank and Gaza that I had never seen before.  On this programme, State of Undress on Vice TV, hostess Hailey Gates explores global fashion and issues the industry often ignores, showing us what the world wears, exploring the social effects of aspects of the industry in each country so that you learn how modern dress is shaped to the local cultures: Pakistan, Russia, China, Seoul, Venezuela, South Africa, Zaire, Israel. It is easy for me to see past the bits of cultural Marxist commentary that occasionally pop up but generally it is a good way to study the world today and how people from extremely diverse cultures express themselves through clothing. (The Congo was the most bizarre.)

“I think our conflict with Israel is not just political, it is also cultural. Israel stole our land, and now it’s trying to steal our culture and traditions. It is our duty as young people to protect this tradition and pass it on to the future generations.  Palestinian women have always been known for their lavishly embroidered clothes, whether they are rich or poor. Each pattern woven told a story of intellect, status and origin. Our aim is to bring this tradition back but on modern day clothes.”

Yasser Al-Hirbawi, the owner of the Palestinian factory that is still going strong producing genuine keffiyahs.

Tonight she was touring through Palestine: Gaza and the West Bank. No holds barred, you got to see the West Bank like few people ever do. She learned from experience how difficult it is to move around and was shocked and frightened during the process. She observed that she almost felt guilty at her freedom to travel between Gaza and the West Bank in pursuit of her story. In Hebron she interviewed a young man who grew up on Shuhada Street and told her the true history of how it was closed down even showing her his father’s closed business. After their visit, he walked her as far as he could before it was dangerous for him and she wept when she saw that the line of a shadow dictated his freedom of movement.

She visited the main keffiyah factory in Hebron and talked to the owners about the business and its history.  She met a Palestinian girl who surfed in modest gear; she rode with the internationally known  Speed Sisters.  (“It’s hard to race cars in Palestine because there are stop checks everywhere.”) This was side of Palestine few of us ever see. The fashion show she flew to Palestine to cover was then cancelled for no particular reason by Israel. She met an American Palestinian woman who has a lingerie shop and learned how difficult it is to set up business; this woman wanted to start a business utilizing Palestinian sewing skills… and show Palestine in its creative light.

When she went to Gaza she was devastated by the conditions there. She gave facts few of us are aware of as she described what she had to go through to enter.  I can only hope that this show eventually comes into the public domain because Vice TV seems is pay-for TV. (Just a free trial, I won’t pay for it was worth this particular programme.) She had to abandon her schedule because bombs started to fall and they had to get out of there fast. This hostess has been through some very challenging situations over the course of the series, but this is the first time I have seen her truly concerned for her well being, even when coming up to checkpoints. A visit to Palestine opened her eyes.

Then I read about this light-spirited little girl Majd Atwan, seen above during sentencing, who is into modelling and esthetics serving time for a Facebook entry that was TAME compared to the things we see Jews saying about Palestinians; Zuckerberg is doing his work well, upholding the code when it comes to speech.  We remember the comments from lusty Jewesses over dead babies, or even just modern callous commentary over events and Palestinians. But they get a pass.

I know this commentary seems to ramble; accept my apologies.  We forget there is that other side to Palestine; the side of people who are making the best of what they have and do not want to be reminded every minute of the horror of their day to day lives.  They want the world to see their joy and remember they are also a resilient creative strong people with much to offer the world. We forget that in Palestine there are girls who like to paint their fingernails and race fast cars and wear pretty undergarments. They don’t all live in keffiyahs!  Of course I am not making light of Palestine; just showing another side of the lives of young people there.

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Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – As uniformed men burst through her front gate last month, Nidal Atwan first thought they had come to her Bethlehem-area home to arrest her 16-year-old son, Mohammed.

“It was two o’clock in the morning. If you saw the number of military jeeps, you’d think Osama bin Laden was in the neighbourhood,” recalled Nidal’s husband, Yousef.

To their surprise, soldiers pulled Nidal aside and asked after the whereabouts of her 22-year-old daughter, Majd, a makeup artist with a passion for bold hair colours and crystal-enhanced manicures.

One thing I learned on this programme is that designers in Gaza also have to deal with Hamas and are even more repressed than those in the West Bank.  Even though the clothing, such as the shortened thobe above could be worn in other places, in Gaza, it would be considered indecent.